CRISP AUTUMN DAYS AND TWO WONDERFUL CRITTERS TO BOOT

POST # 380

OUR FIRST WALK OF THE DAY

In another few days, my current house/pet sit will come to a close, and once again I will have to say so long to two of my favourite four-legged critters.  Mac, the bonehead, and Bert, the furball, will have to cope without me, but I'm sure they will be just fine.

Autumn has always been my favourite season, and the past few days have provided perfect weather.  Crisp, frosty mornings evolve into bright, sunny afternoons.  Mac certainly enjoys going out for a walk or two, as Bert "guards" the house, while simultaneously taking a nap.

This location, as well as my last one, are in rural areas, and the main advantage of being rural is the peace and quiet, which I rate as  number one on my list, when searching for a house/pet sit location.  Number two is a resident bonehead, and number three, is a resident furball.  This place gets a perfect score, so my days spent here are as good as it gets.

EARLY MORNING VIEW FROM THE DECK

MAC

BERT

Rounding out today's post are some extra photos taken on the property, and a couple from today's visit to Gabriola Island to visit my friends Talyn and Mike.  As luck would have it, Talyn's dad, Gilbert was visiting as well.  Mac had a stressful ride across on the ferry, but it was worth it, because he really seemed to enjoy himself during our brief visit.

MAC "WATERING" THE NEW TREE GROWING FROM THE OLD STUMP

AND ONE MORE

BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN LEAVES

MIKE, MAC, AND TALYN

HEADING HOME FROM THE BEACH

maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

WHY WOULD I VOTE?

POST #379

Today is Federal election day. I can't think of a more appropriate date to explain why I won't be voting.  In fact, I haven't voted for a very, very, long time.

The topic of voting came up in a casual conversation with friends the other day.  They are both voters, so perhaps they might find it difficult to understand why I wouldn't want to exercise my franchise, and choose a suitable candidate/party.

As I am prone to do from time to time, I went off on somewhat of a rant about how I tar all politicians with the same brush.  In my opinion, they are ALL very good at telling the people what they think the people will want to hear, and they are ALL prone to talking out of both sides of their mouths.  As far as I can tell, there are only two goals for any politician.  The first goal is to get elected, and the second goal is to stay elected.   Anyway, that was the gist of my short rant.  One great way to change the topic of conversation, is to talk politics.

After I had dropped them off at the airport, and was on my return journey home,  I found myself mulling over this recent conversation, and that got me to thinking.  So what follows, might help the reader understand one of the main reasons why I think that spending any of my remaining precious moments going to a voting station to vote is such an absolute waste of my time.  Here goes.

Let's say that one day you woke up, and you weren't feeling well.  It didn't seem like anything serious, so you figured that you would just ignore the feeling, and hope that tomorrow you would be feeling better.  The next day arrived, and you now felt worse, not better.  Your health continued to deteriorate, so finally you decided that the best thing to do, was to go visit the doctor.  Perhaps, the doctor could diagnose your problem.

The doctor asked all kinds of questions,  arranged for a multitude of tests, and told you to return in one week.

"Please sit down" the doctor said, and right then and there, you suspected that the news wasn't going to be good news.  You were correct.  After exhaustive tests, the results confirmed that you have stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and in the doctor's educated opinion, having looked through all of the SCIENTIFIC evidence, you now had six months and maybe up to one year left to live.

You had an inkling that the news was going to be bad, but certainly not THIS BAD.   So, what to do?
At this point you really only have a couple of choices.  You can accept the news, and try and make the most of your remaining time here on earth, or you can pretend that this is all just a bad dream, and that everything is OK.  But deep down, you know that the doctor is right, and as hard as it may be to come to accepting the doctor's diagnosis, you decide that it really is the best option going forward.

Now let's move to the topic of abrupt, irreversible climate change.  This is a subject that I have been following now for 15 years, so I think that I have a pretty good handle on what the truth is.  And the truth, according to the science, is that things are very bad, and getting worse, and there isn't anything that anyone can do in order to reverse our course.  And here is where I get to the point of this essay.  And that is, there isn't anything that any politician from either side of the political aisle can do, that would have an impact on the trajectory that we are on.  Wile E Coyote has already run past the cliff edge.  Thelma and Louise are already flying through the air in their car.  You get the point.

So as the title of this blog states, "Why would I vote?"  Everything, and I mean everything comes in as a distant second place to abrupt irreversible climate change.  So no matter what topic the politicians are spouting off about, it has become totally irrelevant at this late stage of the human experience.  Hence, I won't be voting today, or any other day for that matter.

Instead, I'll spend some quality time with my current furball, Logan.  He, like all of my other four-legged friends are totally oblivious to the state of the planet in 2019.  They've got it good.

"Hey Paul, isn't it time for our afternoon nap."

"If you don't want to nap, I can always keep myself amused with the fish."

Here is a link to my previous story about the Federal election,  four years ago.  As it was then, it is the same now.  The ECONOMY always seems to be the MOST important issue.  As my friend, Guy says, "If you think that the economy is more important than the environment, try counting your money while holding your breath."  See how well that works out.

http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2015/10/another-pointless-election-that-avoids.html



maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

THIS JOURNEY BEGAN A LONG TIME AGO

POST # 378

MARCOTTE

"Clarence and Madonna (nee Lambert) announce the arrival

of Paul Francois on March 3rd, 1955, weighing in at 4 lbs., 9 oz.  

A brother to his four sisters, who will spoil him later."

It's debatable whether or not I was spoilt by my four sisters, but I do know that I most certainly have been showered with their love over the ensuing years.  I suspect that this love, combined with the love from my parents, has been the major reason that I never feel lonely on my journey through life.

Crawling turned into walking, and I've never looked back.  In spite of the fact that my walking pace isn't as brisk as it was prior to March 4th, 2012,  I still manage to keep moving forward.  There are no plans to settle down at this late stage in life.

And so now I'm off to my next location.  There will be a total of three, four-legged furry friends to keep me company, for a little more than a week, after which time, my journey will continue.

What more, could a Thoughtful Wanderer ask for?

Maybe a new pair of walking boots?

maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

A SHADOW OF HIS FORMER SELF

POST # 377

It has been quite some time since I had the opportunity to take care of Shadow.  He has had some health issues during the interim, which  resulted in a significant weight loss.  He is now just a shadow of his former self, and is finally living up to his name. He can now stare at himself in the mirror, and know deep down that he is living a life that is true.  That sounds like a good plan.

His new slim profile hasn't had any negative impact when it comes to his energy level, and if I was meeting Shadow for the first time, I would never have thought that he had had something wrong with his health.  I still get to enjoy his playfulness and companionship during my time here.  In fact, Shadow seems to be even more playful and affectionate than before.  Perhaps he is living even more in the moment than he used to do.

Of course, being a furball, he can't spend all of his day playing, and so he manages to get in some well deserved rest throughout the day.

We wouldn't want to see him get overworked, now would we?  This is just one of many strategic locations that Shadow has, to catch up on his sleep.  

One trait that has remained the same as before, is Shadow's love of having his back smacked repeatedly, just in front of his tail.  I have only come across a few furballs that enjoy this treatment, and one soon finds out whether or not any particular furball is on board.  They either just stand there, purring contentedly, or you end up getting swatted at by them, usually with their claws out.  Shadow is most certainly in the former category, as can be seen by the short video below.

This is just round one of my time with Shadow for 2019, and in about another month, I'll be back here for round two.  For now, I am content to get re-acquainted with him, as we enjoy our week together.

maximizing my moments,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: In spite of the fact that Shadow is a furball, I keep calling him, Dora.   Hmmm!!!